>> ERIC: THIS COMING 4TH OF JULY MARKS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HISTORIC BLOWDOWN IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS CANOE AREA WILDERNESS.

AN UNEXPECTED INTENSE STORM, KNOWN AS A DERECHO, BROUGHT HIGH WINDS TEARING THROUGH THE REMOTE WILDERNESS, INJURING NEARLY FIVE DOZEN CANOE CAMPERS AND BRINGING DOWN AN ESTIMATED 25 MILLION TREES IN THE SUPERIOR NATIONAL FOREST.

MINNESOTA AUTHOR CARY GRIFFITH'S NEW BOOK "GUNFLINT FALLING: BLOWDOWN IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS" CHRONICLES THE AFTERMATH THROUGH THE EYES OF PEOPLE WHO LIVED THROUGH IT.

WELCOME BACK.

I WAS STRUCK BY THE NUMBER OF SOURCES YOU HAD.

PEOPLE GOING ON THE RECORD AND BEING QUOTED.

WAS THERE SOME SHARED EXPERIENCES THAT EVERYBODY HAD WITH THE THREADS RUNNING THROUGH IT?

>> YEAH, THERE REALLY WERE, YEAH.

IT WAS -- AND I HAVE TO SAY, HUGE THANKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE, I INTERVIEWED PROBABLY 100 PEOPLE AND THEY WERE SO GRACIOUS AND GENEROUS WITH THEIR TIME AND THEIR STORIES, MANY OF WHICH GOT INTO THE BOOK BE.

I CALL OUT 60 IN ACKNOWLEDGMENTS BUT, YEAH, I THINK I PROBABLY TALKED TO ABOUT 100 PEOPLE.

>> Cathy: WHAT ARE THE THREADS THAT RAN THROUGH MOST OF THESE INTERVIEWS?

>> I AM ALL OF THE SUDDEN INTERESTED IN -- WELL, THE EVENT WAS AN EXTREME WEATHER EVENT, AND I'M ALWAYS INTERESTED IN THE DRAMA.

AND THERE WAS HUGE DRAMA IN ALL THESE PEOPLE I SPOKE WITH.

SO EVERY TIME I TALKED TO SOMEBODY AND THEY WERE IN THE EVENT, THEY WERE THERE, OR IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS, I LEARNED JUST SOME INCREDIBLE STORIES.

>> Cathy: NOW, WE HEARD THERE WERE, OF COURSE, WE KNEW ABOUT THE STORM WARNINGS EVEN DOWN HERE IT THE IN THE CITIES, WE KNEW THERE WAS BIG WINDS.

BUT IT AS 25 YEARS AGO WHERE WE DIDN'T HAVE THE SOCIAL MEDIA WE HAVE NOW.

IT SEEMED LIKE IT WAS SEVERAL DAYS THAT PASSED UNTIL WE ACTUALLY KNEW WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED.

>> IT WAS!

IF IT WOULD HAVE BEEN DONE -- IF IT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TODAY WE WOULD HAVE HAD, YOU KNOW, VIDEOS, WE WOULD HAVE HAD PICTURES, THE SOCIAL MEDIA WOULD HAVE BEEN COVERED WITH IT.

AS IT WAS, IT WAS ABOUT TWO TO THREE, FOUR DAYS AFTER THE EVENT BEFORE ANYBODY KNEW IT HAPPENED.

IN FACT, I INTERVIEWED SOME PEOPLE IN GRAND MARAIS, WHICH THEY WERE REALLY CLOSE TO THE EVENT BUT IT HAPPENED WAY AT THE END OF THE GUNFLINT TRAIL.

SOME OF THEM DIDN'T REALLY EVEN KNOW THE SEVERITY OF WHAT HAD HAPPENED IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS UNTIL A DAY LATER.

>> Eric: YEAH, TELL US ABOUT THE EVALUATION, THE GRADE THAT THE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE WAS GIVEN FOR THIS.

>> IT WAS A YPE 2 M NIC S EVENT SO TYPE ONE IS THE HIGHEST INCIDENT THAT YOU CAN HAVE AND THIS WAS TYPE TWO.

SO IT WAS HANDLED BY A TEAM OUT OF ELY.

>> Eric: AND THERE WAS A MILWAUKEE HEADQUARTERS.

>> YEAH, THERE'S A MILWAUKEE HEADQUARTERS FOR SUPERIOR NATIONAL FOREST AND THERE WERE SOME PEOPLE FROM WISCONSIN ON THAT TYPE TWO TEAM.

>> Cathy: THE DAMAGE WAS AMAZING.

YOU CAN'T EVEN DESCRIBE IT.

DID YOU EVER GET TO SEE IT?

>> WELL, I DIDN'T SEE IT THEN.

YOU KNOW, I'VE SEEN PICTURES OF IT.

AND YOU SAID IN YOUR OPENING REMARKS I THINK 28 MILLION, THE NUMBER I HEARD WAS 48 MILLION TREES WERE FELLED.

AND THE PICTURES SHOW THE TREES ALL FELL JUST FLAT IN AN EAST-NORTHEASTERN DIRECTION BECAUSE THE WINDS WERE SO STRONG AND SO POWERFUL.

A REALLY EXTREME WEATHER EVENT, KIND OF BUILDING ON WHAT MARK SEELEY WAS SAYING BEFORE.

>> Cathy: AND OF COURSE NOW YOU'VE GOT ALL THIS, THE FEAR WAS, OF COURSE, ALL THIS FUEL FOR WILDFIRES.

>> YES.

YEAH, AND IN FACT I KIND OF THINK OF THIS BOOK AS A PREQUELL TO THE GUNFLINT BURNING WHICH WAS THE HAM LAKE FIRE OF 2007.

A LOT OF THE PEOPLE I INTERVIEWED, WHAT GOT ME INTERESTED IN THIS TOPIC IS I INTERVIEWED A LOT OF THOSE PEOPLE AND THEY TOLD ME ABOUT ONE OF THE REASONS THAT FIRE BURNED SO HOT AND INTENSELY WAS BECAUSE OF ALL THE FUEL FROM THE BLOWDOWN.

>> Eric: IS THIS A TOTAL ONE-OFF DEAL?

COULD THIS HAPPEN AGAIN?

IOWA I THINK HAD ONE OF THESE LIKE LAST YEAR OR THE YEAR BEFORE.

>> YES, YEAH.

CEDAR RAPIDS WAS HIT REALLY HARD I WANT TO SAY TWO OR THREE YEARS AGO.

IT'S VERY UNUSUAL AT THAT LATITUDE FOR A DERECHO OF THIS PROPORTION TO HAPPEN.

BUT, YES, IT CAN HAPPEN.

YOU KNOW, IT'S A CLIMATE WARMING, MORE EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS ARE HAPPENING ALL THE TIME.

>> Cathy: QUICKLY, WHAT STORY REALLY STICKS WITH YOU?

>> I'D HAVE TO SAY LISA NOSS, ONE OF THE CAMPERS, SHE WAS STRUCK BY A TREE.

IF SHE HAD BEEN STRUCK -- IF THE TREE HAD BEEN ONE INCH OVER, SHE WOULD HAVE DIED.

AND S IT WAS SHE HAD TO, SHE HAD MEDI VACED AND ULTIMATELY WENT TO THE DULUTH TRAUMA CENTER AND THEY HAD TO RELIEVE PRESSURE ON HER BRAIN BECAUSE SHE GOT HIT SO HARD.

THOSE, HER STORY AND VICKI ROCKMAN, SHE WAS STRUCK BY A TREE TOO.

>> Cathy: WHAT DO YOU DO, YOU'RE IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS DURING A HUGE STORM.

>> Eric: GREAT BOOK, GOOD LUCK WITH